What About Now
by Amethystbutterflies
Summary: "Are you kidding me? You don't remember bringing in that!" Owen pointed to the airborne dinosaur.  Jack shook his head. "Nope, nothing."


**AN- Just something I wrote awhile back. Rietta and I had debates about how to work with this one and it was decided it worked well as a oneshot :)**

**Fight for this Love is being updated tomorrow, so don't worry:)**

**Massive thanks to Rietta for the encouragement, many visits to Newport and all the help! Caru'ch!**

**Let me know what you think:)**

**What About Now.**

"What the _fuck_ is that?" Jack Harkness gasped as he descended on the invisible lift.

"Pterodactyl," Toshiko Sato answered from her position at her computer. "You brought it in last night, remember?"

"Erm, no I didn't."

"Well it didn't exactly strap itself to the SUV and hitch-hike here, Jack."

"Naturally- if it were strapped on it wouldn't be able to use its wings to thumb a lift. Be serious, Tosh!"

"I am; you brought it in last night. You arrived, called Owen to give you a hand… Then you locked yourself in your office and mentioned someone called Ianto Jones; said you needed to 'deal with him'."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I did? I don't remember."

Tosh raised her eyebrows. "Bloody hell, he must have been crap."

"Hey, I remember every shag, traumatically crap or not."

"Owen!" Tosh called, grabbing Jack's hand and dragging him down to the medical area of the hub, where Owen was now looking at them, a quizzical expression on his face.

"No, I can't do overtime..." he stated.

"Well, you might have to. Jack doesn't remember bringing the pterodactyl in."

"What?" Owen asked, deadpan.

"Jack can't remember bringing the pterodactyl in last night."

"Are you kidding me? You don't remember bringing in _that_?" He pointed to the airborne dinosaur.

Jack shook his head. "Nope, nothing."

Owen shoved Jack in the direction of the autopsy bed and ordered: "Coat off, sleeves rolled up Captain."

"What do you plan on doing to me?"

"Blood test."

"Why?"

"There must be a reason why you can't remember bring a fucking _dinosaur_ into the base."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Are you going to go all Doctor Harper on me?"

The doctor smirked. "Oh yeah."

Owen pulled on some latex gloves and moved to the cupboard to remove a package with a needle inside. He ripped the plastic open and pulled out the needle, moving to stand beside Jack. He picked up a bottle of solution, tipping some onto a cotton pad and smoothing it over the top of Jack's bicep, just above the joint to his elbow.

"Might feel a sting."

"I've been mauled by Weevils, Owen, I seriously doubt this will... ouch!"

"Told you."

"Did no-one ever teach you to be kind to your patients?"

"Kind? No. Considerate, maybe."

Jack rolled his eyes. "How long for the results?"

"Oh, give me an hour."

"Okay." Jack hurried off to his office and sat himself down in the chair. Turning on the monitor, he found himself staring at a picture of a man who was wearing a shirt, tie and a blazer jacket.

"Hmm, gorgeous," he murmured before reading the profile next to him. "Ianto Jones, August nineteenth, nineteen eighty-three. Good student, degree in English Literature, teaches at the University." He sighed and leant back. "So why don't I remember you, Ianto Jones? You look like the kind of guy I wouldn't forget."

* * *

An hour later, Jack was browsing through the records, trying to remind himself of the night before. He'd found a recorded file on the capture of the pterodactyl, but he couldn't remember it.

"Jack!" He heard Owen call.

"What is it?" he asked, moving towards the doorway.

"Your results are back."

"Are they? And?"

"You have compound B sixty-seven in your blood."

"I've been retconned?"

"Yeah." Owen nodded. "But why?"

* * *

**24 hours ago. **

Professor Ianto Jones hurried along the university corridor. His final lectures before the holidays were over and all he head left to do was gather his files together and then he could head home. He could just see it: he was going to curl up on his couch with a bottle of beer and a meatfeast pizza from the place near the bay, and shove James Bond on the DVD player. He really needed the break.

He gathered everything he needed for the break into his briefcase, grabbed his coat and headed out to his car, which he had parked out by some nearby warehouses. He looked up at the sky and noted that it looked like rain. He slammed the boot and then froze. He could have sworn he'd heard a screeching noise. Turning back towards the nearest warehouse, he hurried towards the door. He debated with himself for a second: should he call the police or that place with the black SUV that turned up occasionally?

Taking a deep breath, he quietly open the door and peered around it. He stared at the creature before him.

"What the fuck?" he cried, backing out and slamming the door. "I'm going mad, _dinosaurs_ don't exist!"

He grabbed the handle and slammed the door open again, staring at the giant bird in the air. "Of all the things to find in the lead up to the holidays... a bloody_ pterodactyl_!"

He sighed. He had no clue what to do, but he couldn't just leave it over there. There must be something… The police wouldn't believe him. No, definitely couldn't call the police. Then what? Panicking slightly, he began to run towards the road and by some stroke of luck he saw the familiar black SUV coming down the road. He needed to stop it, so he did what anyone would do. He stepped into the road in front of the oncoming car.

"STOP!" he cried.

The breaks screeched on the wet tarmac and stopped the vehicle abruptly.

"Who the hell are you?" A man in a grey greatcoat demanded, getting out of the car.

"I... er... oh..." he found himself stuttering. What if this was the wrong person?

"Look, I don't know what your problem is, and to be quite frank, I have enough on my plate without having to deal with your suicidal tenancies as well."

"See... But the thing is..."

"No," the man said, cutting him off. "I don't have time to deal with you. Go and find a doctor, talk to him!"

"Will you just shut the _fuck_ up and listen _sir_, there's a fucking _pterodactyl_ in that warehouse. I don't know if I've stopped the right SUV, but please, I need your help to catch it."

"A _pterodactyl_?"

"Yes. Please believe me; I checked _twice_ and it scares the shit out of me. It's meant to be _extinct._"

The man smiled and moved Ianto to the pavement. "Let me move the car out the road."

Ianto nodded and watched as the man climbed back into the SUV and moved it to the pavement so the line of traffic could flow again.

"Alright," the man smiled. "Tell me your name."

"Jones, Ianto Jones."

"Okay Jones, Ianto Jones; Captain Jack Harkness."

Ianto nodded. "Thank you for not thinking I'm nuts."

Jack laughed. "I've seen crazier things than a pterodactyl."

"Like those men in masks? You round them up."

Jack smiled. It was a shame he'd have to retcon this man. He was genuine, he could see that much, and he was assertive, and he looked _gorgeous_ in that suit.

"They're called Weevils."

"Weevils?" Ianto said the word.

"Yeah, they come from another world."

"Aliens? In _Cardiff_?"

Jack laughed. "The city is built on a rift in space and time. Flotsam and jetsam falls through and it's the job of my team and I to collect it."

"You're an alien catcher."

"Yes I am."

"You catch aliens?"

"Yup."

"Caught any good aliens?"

"Tons of them."

Ianto laughed and Jack smiled. Ianto seemed less nervous now.

"You okay?" Jack asked as he moved towards the back of the SUV and opened the boot.

"About as okay as I can be."

"Going to helping me catch the pterodactyl then?"

Ianto laughed. "You have dinosaur nuts?"

"Like I'd keep them in the back of the SUV." Instead, he held up a needle. "Sedative: one injection into the central nervous cortex."

The Welshman stared at him. "That's your grand plan?"

"Well, do you have a better idea?"

Ianto reached into his pocket. "We could distract it."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "And then wait until it eats us for tea?"

"Well, I was more thinking that whilst one of us distracts it, the other could give it the sedative."

"What do you plan to distract it with?"

"Chocolate." Ianto whipped out the bar of chocolate from his breast pocket: he hadn't had chance to enjoy the treat at lunchtime.

"Dinosaurs like chocolate?"

"Aren't pterodactyls herbivores?" Ianto countered with a question of his own.

Jack shrugged his shoulders in response. "I'm not a walking encyclopaedia."

"Damn, I'd read you all night."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "What that a euphemism, Mr Jones?"

"Lord, no! You haven't taken me to dinner yet."

Jack laughed. "Well let me take you to dinner and then I'll see about turning your pages, okay?"

Ianto grinned. "Why not?"

Jack sighed. He knew that date could never happen- this man wouldn't remember him this time tomorrow. It broke his heart to think that this man had to be put through that. Smiling, he grabbed the younger man and pulled him towards the warehouse. "Fine, we'll do it your way."

"I'll distract it with the chocolate then, you inject it."

Jack nodded. They stood side by side at the door then Jack pushed it open. Ianto stood just behind Jack's shoulder as he entered. Then they backed out, practically running as the pterodactyl flew at them, screeching.

"Jesus!" Ianto gasped. "She isn't happy."

"No," Jack laughed. "It's caught scent of something…"

"Must be your aftershave."

"Never wear any."

"You smell like that naturally?" Ianto asked, bewildered.

"Fifty-first century pheromones; you people have no idea." Jack chuckled. "Ready to go again?"

"I'm game if you are."

Jack nodded and gripped the door handle. "Right then, get ready to run."

Ianto nodded.

"On my mark then." Jack shoved the door open and darted in with Ianto hot on his heels.

"Split up!" he cried as they ran in opposite directions, meeting behind the dinosaur in the middle of the room.

"Got that chocolate ready?"

"Oh yeah." Ianto smiled and took a deep breath. He looked at Jack for reassurance and, seeing the older man give him a wink, he walked forward.

"Hey you, I got your favourite…" he laughed nervously. "Dark chocolate." He chucked the bar at the dinosaur, and the pterodactyl pecked at it before gripping it in its beak. "It's good for your serotonin levels... if you have serotonin levels."

Jack watched with pride. Ianto was so nervous, but then the English professor didn't deal with this kind of thing as a daily occurrence. He crept up quietly on the unsuspecting pterodactyl. '_I'm gonna have to name her,'_ he thought.

He smiled and was just ready to inject the pterodactyl when it turned to him sharply. He saw Ianto flinch; and then the pterodactyl was upon him. He grabbed its foot with one hand as it took off into the air with a screech.

"IANTO!" he shouted, ever so slightly panicked.

Ianto watched carefully. In hindsight, he wasn't sure what he was planning to do; he just knew that he had to get Jack down. He saw Jack inject the dinosaur and let go, and he moved quickly, catching Jack. He toppled to the floor with Jack on top of him.

"Watch out!" Ianto cried as he rolled them over and a loud thump came from where they had lain moments previously. The pterodactyl lay unconscious in their place.

Ianto looked down into Jack's eyes and they both laughed, adrenalin coursing through their bodies along with exhilaration at still being alive. They laughed loudly and then seemed to quieten down as they realised the situation they were in. Jack raised his head slightly, allowing him to meet Ianto's eyes for the first time since they had fallen. He felt something niggle at his insides but he ignored it- it wasn't anything to worry about, it was familiar. He stared into the blue eyes and he felt his throat tighten. He tried to speak, but found he couldn't form the words.

Ianto looked into Jack's eyes, his heart hammering. '_I want to kiss him...'_ The thought startled him, but as he gazed into the sea of blue he found it didn't matter. Throwing caution to the wind he lowered his head and kissed Jack chastely on the lips. He looked down and saw Jack's eyes flutter. Deciding that the American was okay with it, he kissed him again. This time he felt Jack respond, his arms moving from Ianto's shoulders to the small of this back as he opened his mouth and kissed back. For several minutes they kissed. The only sounds were their laboured breathing, the soft sleeping noises of the dinosaur and the distant sound of traffic. They continued to kiss, hands mapping new bodies and kisses building in passion. Then a screeching beeping noise filled the air, and Jack and Ianto pulled apart.

"What the hell was that?" Ianto asked, pulling himself to his feet.

"Rift activity locater, I need to go." Jack moved the pterodactyl and hefted it onto his back, walking quickly towards the car. "Love the suit! I'll call you about that dinner."

"How?" Ianto cried as he hurried after Jack, helping him to manhandle the dinosaur onto the roof and secured it.

Jack smiled. "I will call; I have my ways of getting your number."

Ianto smiled. "Okay."

"I'll see you soon Mr Jones; try to stay out of trouble."

"Yes, Sir." He smiled and kissed Jack passionately one more time. Jack smiled, saluted him casually and hopped into the SUV, tearing off down the road at a speed that made Ianto wince.

* * *

Less than twelve hours later, Ianto was sat eating his breakfast and watching some random television show with people discussing mysterious disappearances in the area when he heard a knock at his door. He stood, moving his breakfast dish to the table, and went to answer the door.

"Captain," he said, rather stunned to find the American (looking a little the worse for wear) on his doorstep.

"Ianto." The man smiled. "How are you?"

"All the better for seeing you again."

Jack smiled. "Now now, let's not rush everything."

"Coffee?" Ianto asked as he backed away, allowing Jack to enter his house.

"Love one thanks."

Smiling, Ianto showed Jack where to hang his coat up and then led the older man into this kitchen, where he pulled out a mug from the cupboard and poured some of the coffee into it before handing it to Jack.

"We have a coffee machine at the office," Jack smiled wryly. "None of us can work it; we tend to keep four separate coffee shops in business."

"Oh dear, maybe I'll have to come and work it."

Jack laughed. "You'd have to apply for a job."

"Tell me how."

"Drop a CV in with the boss."

"Whom do I address the covering letter to?"

"Captain Jack Harkness."

"Oh, oka-… Wait a minute- I snogged the boss!"

"You nearly shagged the boss."

"In a warehouse."

"In a warehouse," Jack repeated with a twinkle in his eyes. He really didn't want to retcon this guy.

"Oh dear... So can I ask what your company is called?"

"Torchwood."

"They actually exist?" Ianto was dumbfounded. He'd heard the rumours, everyone had.

"Yeah, we do." Jack sighed. "Protecting the world from alien threats."

"Sounds intriguing."

"Also dangerous."

Ianto sensed a change of topic was needed and smiled. "I'm just gonna go and throw some clothes on."

Jack smiled and nodded. He waited until the Welshman was out of sight before he pulled the little white tablet from his pocket. He eyed it disdainfully and slipped it into Ianto's coffee before he chickened out.

Ianto appeared back in a room a few minutes later and eyed Jack. "You okay?"

Jack forced a smile. "Yeah... Hey, can I use your bathroom?"

Ianto smiled. "Upstairs, first door on the left."

Jack grinned. "Thanks." He hurried out the room and up the stairs.

Ianto glanced after Jack, then shook his head and eyed the cups. Something was amiss. Torchwood caught aliens, and in his experience, with any company that caught aliens there was always something to wipe your memory. He was certain that was what Jack was here to do. Ianto wasn't a fool, not by a long shot. He switched the cups, sat back down and waited for Jack.


End file.
